


Before the Worst of It

by RottenFruitz



Category: Jacksepticeye Power Hour (Web Series), jacksepticeye
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-14 01:01:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29410905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RottenFruitz/pseuds/RottenFruitz
Summary: Jackie finds out what Anti intends to do with him. (Sort of.)
Kudos: 3





	Before the Worst of It

**Author's Note:**

> I also post these on my Tumblr (fruitycasket), they should all be under my fanfic or writersofjack tag. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

When Jackie came to, his nose was assaulted with the smell of blood and metal and mud, and it was chillier than he remembered it being a second ago. He wasn’t sure what had happened. Things had been going like they usually did: Anti had shown up to kidnap or eat someone, and Jackie had intervened. But this time something had gone wrong, although he wasn’t sure what. One second he was standing in a warehouse, hoping this would finally be the fight that stopped Anti for good, and the next he was… wherever here was.

Despite his headache and a heavy weight on his neck, Jackie managed to sit up. His body seemed to think he was better off on the floor; it was sluggish and unwilling to move, and the bruises and cuts he had from his fight with Anti weren’t helping matters. Chains clanked together as he moved—wait, chains?

Frantically, he grabbed at his wrists, and then at his ankles, just to make sure he wasn’t hearing things. To his dismay he found that the sound was, in fact, coming from him; he’d been chained to the floor by five heavy chains with shackles on the ends. The fifth one was clamped around his neck, which explained the weight on his shoulders. But that was the least of his worries. He was pulling on the chains as hard as he could but nothing was happening. Normally, he would have made scrap metal of them by now. Had he been drugged? That might explain the headache.

“Jackaboy!”

Jackie’s head snapped up. He couldn’t see well in the dark, but he still managed to catch a glimpse of Anti’s owlish, dead eyes just before his head popped into view.

“You’re finally awake,” the demon continued, “I hope I didn’t hurt you too much dragging you downstairs. I know I could’ve just  _ carried _ you but, let’s face it, I’m not  _ that _ nice…”

“Wh-What did you… Where am I? Where did you take me?”

“Oh this? This is my home! Almost.” As he gestured around, all Jackie could see was the small brick room they were in. He must be referring to the rest of it.

“I’m still working on it. There are some parts that could use a bit of touching up, you see.” Anti paused. “But you don’t care about that do you? You want to know why you’re here. You want to see what happens to all those precious humans I’ve spirited away over the years…”

Jackie swallowed as he tried to force his heartbeat to slow. Why was he freaking out so much? It wasn’t like he’d  _ never _ been held hostage before. He was a superhero. He fought supervillains, kept the general public safe, and sometimes got caught slipping. It was an occupational hazard, one that he had accepted as a reality and had prepared to deal with. And yet, something about the way Anti carried himself was unsettling. Or maybe it was his eyes; far too big and completely dull, as if he were a corpse brought back to life. In all his life he’d never seen anything like them.

“You’re my new project, Jackie,” Anti said it bluntly, but a huge grin was spreading across his face as he spoke, “You were a thorn in my side for a long time, stopping me from getting new projects and all, but hey, I get it. If you barged into my house and stole my dearest Puppy from me, I would be pretty upset.”

White-hot anger flared up in Jackie’s gut as Anti compared the people he protected to a dog. Did this monster seriously think he’d claimed ownership over those people, that he thought they were his  _ property _ ?

“And then, I got to thinking. You are such a fine hero, Jackaboy, but you could be so much better.”

Jackie started to shake. Although he was quick to convince himself that he was shaking in rage, deep down he had a feeling that wasn’t the reason. Still, he put on a brave face. Eventually these drugs would wear off, and when that happened, he would break out of these chains and punch Anti so hard his stupid glassy eyes shot through the back of his skull.

“Aw, don’t look at me like that. This is a win-win situation! I get a new project to work on that isn’t one of your humans, and you get to live up to your full potential. I’ll even throw in a bonus for you, I’ll stop hunting in your city! Maybe. But wouldn’t it be nice if I went through with it?”

When had Anti gotten so close? When had he cupped Jackie’s chin in his hands? The hero wasn’t sure, but once he registered the cool claw-tips resting on his cheeks he shook his head and snarled.

“Fuck you!” He’d shouted with as much force as he could, but his voice still hadn’t come out as fierce as he’d hoped.

Anti forced his smile to widen to an almost impossible degree, stretching his lips thin over two rows of crooked, yellowed shark teeth to a point where it was impressive they didn’t tear. “Do you think you’re the first to come in here snapping and snarling, Jackie?” he asked, “I’ve had  _ hundreds _ of projects before you, and I  _ broke _ most of them. Trust me, you’ll be singing a new tune soon enough. Hell, I think you might even start  _ thanking _ me.”

Jackie’s heart raced. He wanted to lunge forwards and attack despite the chains and the drugs keeping him contained, but at the same time he was rooted to the spot from sheer terror. He’d come face to face with a lot of evil, but he’d never encountered something like  _ this _ .

“ _ Buuut _ , I won’t actually do anything to you. Yet. I always give my projects a day to settle down, to come to terms with things and whatnot,” Anti turned and started walking away. As he disappeared into the shadows, he spoke again. “I’ll be back with your dinner in a bit, Jackaboy. And please keep this in mind: if you behave yourself I may just rustle up some painkillers for you.”


End file.
